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Volt Face: Tesla Talks a Good Game

Elon Musk talks a good game, according to soundbites attributed to the Tesla CEO during the investor roadshow leading up to the company's $226 million IPO. Tesla, he's reported as saying, is a "technology velociraptor"; a company focused on technology and disruption. "Think closer to an Apple, or a Google, than a GM or Ford." The Tesla Roadster "kicks the ass of any Ferrari except the Enzo." Having Daimler, the company that invented the automobile, ask Tesla to supply it with battery packs is "like Gutenberg saying 'can you make a press for me?'"It's all great stuff. Only problem is, the reality is somewhat less impressive than Musk makes it sound. (For a start, no fewer than six Ferraris will spank a Tesla Roadster to 60 mph, according to our own test numbers.)There are some other Tesla home truths buried in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission prior to the IPO. As of March 31, Tesla had sold just 1063 of its $100,000-plus, Lotus Elise-based Roadsters, and had just 110 outstanding orders for the car. The documents also reveal Tesla's contract with Lotus locks it into buying a total of 2400 Roadster chassis -- 'gliders' in Tesla-speak -- by December 2011, or risk paying a penalty.The documents also show Tesla has only one running prototype of the Model S, the vaunted $57,400 EV hatchback it says it will deliver in 2012. To quote directly from page 26 of the SEC filing: "We... do not have a full production prototype, a final design, a built-out manufacturing facility, or a manufacturing process." To be that far behind the curve little more than two years from start of production would be unthinkable for any mainstream automaker.Of course, Tesla doesn't regard itself as a mainstream automaker. As Elon Musk likes to point out, its roots are in high-tech, software-centric Silicon Valley, not the grim, gritty rust belt around Detroit. Tesla is fast moving, free-wheeling, innovative, and unconstrained by traditional automaker thinking; a car company founded by computer geeks. (And this is supposed to be a good thing? If I owned a car that was as unreliable and glitch riddled as the computers and software I use every day, I would be filing a lemon-law suit.)The notion that Tesla is all about disruptive technology, that it has created something the mainstream auto industry hasn't thought of, is nonsense. The electric vehicle is as old as the automobile itself: EV taxis were used on the streets of Manhattan in 1897, and the first land speed record was set by an EV in 1898. The greater range and instant refueling capability of the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine had relegated the EV to a curiosity piece within two decades, and the fundamental weakness of the EV -- that batteries store far less energy than a gallon of gas, and take too long to recharge -- has not changed in more than a century, despite significant advances in battery chemistry. The owner of an EV in 1910 could expect 50 to 80 miles on a charge. In our experience the Tesla Roadster can go 200 miles, if driven with care.It's new government regulations, combined with generous taxpayer-funded incentives to encourage consumers, that are now making EVs (marginally) viable for mainstream automakers, not game-changing technical breakthroughs. As a result, every major automaker now has an EV or partial EV under development right now. Tesla's USP is evaporating, fast.So while the Model S is still pretty much vaporware, Nissan has already launched the world's first purpose-built, mass-produced EV, the Leaf. You'll be able to buy it in your local Nissan dealership next year. And Daimler has revealed plans to manufacture purpose-built EVs in China with BYD, and is aggressively working on becoming a leader in lithium-ion EV battery production. Despite Musk's Gutenberg jibe, the Tesla documents admit it is likely to lose the Daimler powertrain business by 2012.But perhaps the ultimate irony is it's General Motors, long the Silicon Valley poster-child for all that's wrong with the auto industry, that's poised to launch a car that may be more significant than anything Tesla is ever likely to build. The Chevy Volt is a thoughtful, innovative, technically advanced vehicle; the prototypes we've driven confirm it cleverly combines the best attributes of an electric motor and the gasoline internal combustion engine. Disruptive technology? Sorry Elon, there's more at GM than Tesla.

After it's IPO sold like hotcakes, Tesla showed they're continuing to improve their technology in advance of the ModelS with software improvements to aid in warm weather, from "a car company founded by computer geeks". New seats that don't require a waiver from your chiropractor, a nav system and the first real refresh of the bumpers complete the Roadster2.5IIRC; That means the transmission, motor and software have all been redone since the first Roadsters and now tweaks to styling and interior are unfolding. The only other thing Tesla might work out before full-scale auto manufacturing with the ModelS is battery pack enhancement, or did they already do that and I missed it?

The Volt isn't that much of a leap in technology. The Diesel Electric engines that have run Trains and Submarines for the last 60 years is essentially the same. Also Electric vehicles are much more appropriate for conserving energy even if today's power plants are not as efficient as needed. Proper modifications to the power plant, or a new power plant would fix that. Using current technology, the power plant will still need to be updated or replaced, along with the gas powered vehicles since gas engines. Either way, Gas engines have to go, and it can either be today or in the future, but it is inevitable.

Before anyone invests in Tesla or any other electric car company, they would be well served by reading the article "The Dirty Truth about Plug-In Hybrids" in this month's (July 2010) Scientific American. Think electric cars and plug-in hybrids are "green"? Think again. Depending on how the electricity is generated, electric cars can actually be substantially dirtier than ordinary hybrids.When this dirty little secret becomes well known by the public and the next generation of lawmakers, US Government subsidies for plug-in hybrids and electric cars will probably be cut way back and the market for electric cars will dry up - at least until we can replace coal power with nuclear and other clean sources.

In this day and age, young people, like me or should I say "I", use these ultra high tech, things called "cellular phones" to communicate with one-another via text message. These "texts" have a limited amount of word space, so in order to minimize the length of the text, we cram words together and cut out letters such as "stfu", "rofl", and "ur" etc. I know its a bad habit, but as they say, "bad habits die hard". So please forgive me for not taking my time to type out the words correctly, i did not know we where posting on MotorTrends Spelling Bee Blog.

Not trying to troll but would like to know out of curiousity: If tamarack got out of his/her 1-series to wait in line for hours for his iPad only to do the same thing a couple months later for the iPhone 4.

tamarack, how many fords, bms, or teslas have u owned?i dont bag on companies, seeing how im not an engineer, and i didnt design vehicles, or have done extensive testing on their products. lol, if ford didnt care about its product, and it was such a peice of dump company, why would motortrend make the fusion its car of the year, and if u think ur so smart enough to not take the opinion of motortrend wtf are u doin wastein ur all knowing mind and time reading their articles. sounds like uve been eatin to much of ur own feces, if u smell what i mean.

With the purchase of the NAMMI plant, Mercedes part supply and another $126mil coming from their IPO (the other $100mil was previously purchased by Toyota and Mercedes for Tesla technology), Tesla shouldn't have any problem rolling out its mass-produced ModelS in two years. Much like Elon's SpaceX used the small Falcon1 to develope manufacturing and technology for the larger Falcon9 that will make up its core business, Tesla alreay worked out all the details with the Roadster to expodite introduction of a larger, quality vehicle that will be the core of Tesla's business."If I owned a car that was as unreliable and glitch riddled as the computers and software I use every day, I would be filing a lemon-law suit." -MTRe: It's probably because you use Microsoft, which like Ford, BYD or Cheri is designed not only as quickly and cheaply as possible without conern for reliability or performance, but to fail in time. The intention being you'll be back to waste cash on the next 'improved' version very soon and boost their sales. The other option is to buy something perfected like an Apple, BMW, Nissan or design it yourself to equivilant high standards.Considering Elon is involed in writing the software for his companies and uses methodical developemnt and testing, expensive tasks that crap-companies breeze through, your comparison is without merit. I also wonder if generic systems are good enough for you to compute with, why should I trust your opinion on vehicle quality.

I think Tesla's biggest prob is that the only model they offer is a niche version of an already niche vehicle. And the Model S sounds like a pipe dream.The Volt and EREVs in general are the best path to take for EVs. I can get by on one charge for most days. But charging stations are almost non-existent, and I don't want to be required to own a second car to be able to leave town.

The volt isn't a hybrid at all. It's driven by battery alone, the battery is charged by a generator, therefore not a hybrid. And on the 200 miles thing, some people have to drive more than 200 miles at a time. Didn't they drive the roadster to the NY auto show (or wherever) and it took them almost 2 weeks to get there because they could only drive about 200 miles a day?